Baby Jamba Juice

Where we live Jamba Juice is very popular. We have one within walking distance of our house! We all love it including Emily. But because they use nonfat milk and sorbet (a little too much sugar for the baby), we've taken to making hers at home. Yesterday it was pretty much the only thing she would eat! Here's the recipe for any other 1-2 year olds.

Baby Jamba Juice

One 4-6 oz container of whole milk yogurt
1/2 very ripe banana
1/2 -1 cup frozen fruit
whole milk to make it the consistency you want

Blend it all up in the blender. Leftovers keep for a day or two but are more like a yogurt drink. It also freezes well into popsicles. Yesterday we used peach yogurt and frozen raspberries. Yum!!!

Schooling At Home

My friend Jessica introduced us to the world of blogging. (Thanks Jessica!) She also introduced me to an encouraging blog called Girl Talk, and her circle of blogging buddies. One of them asked her homeschool readers to post about their homeschooling philosophy and curriculum choices. So here it goes... I hope it's helpful to any of you who teach at home or are thinking about it.

I follow a Classical Christian approach to Homeschooling. Since we are still in the early stages(2nd and 4th grade next fall), we are in what classicalists call the "grammar stage" where students learn the "grammar" or building blocks of each subject. They then build on that foundation in later years.

We started homeschooling three years ago when my son was in 1st grade. I don't qualify for "veteran homeschooler" quite yet, but there are some things that have been working for us that I am really excited about. I won't bore you with the flops!


Bible: We started out using Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History. This guide takes you through the history of Israel by reading one or two chapters a day from Genesis through Nehemiah then asking a few inductive questions to get your kids discussing the chapter with you.
Another series we have enjoyed is Susan Hunt's ABC Bible Verses, Big Truths for Little Kids, Discovering Jesus in Genesis, and Discovering Jesus in Exodus. When we were through, Evan asked if there were "Discovering Jesus" books for all 66 books of the Bible! Solid doctrine, scripture memorization, engaging stories and even a recipe for Miss Jenny's Shortbread made this devotional series a favorite for our family. It's one we will come back to again when Emily is older. By then she will have learned (hopefully) that our "A" verse is "A quiet answer turns away wrath." Proverbs 15:1 (Just a note, in Big Truths for Little Kids, she talks about infant baptism. I thought it was presented in a way that we were able to talk about why some Christians practice this and it wasn't a big deal. But I wanted to mention it.)

Math: One thing that we have been doing this year to help with multiplication is a timed multiplication table drill. My husband did it in 3 and 1/2 min. with no practice. I give the kids 5 min. to see how much they can fill in. We do it every day in the morning. Evan is now up to 120 out of 144 possible. You can click here for a link to a blank multiplication table.

Language Arts:

• Reading: We have used Phonics Pathways to teach reading skills. It was simple, inexpensive and thorough. To jazz it up a bit at times, we would play the kids favorite games but switch out the dice or cards with flash cards that had the words or sentences they would have read in the book. My kids loved that. We would also go through readers each day. Evan really liked the ones from Veritas Press. (You can order them separately if you call and ask.) Amy liked Modern curricular Press. I would also recommend Educators Publishing Service's Primary Phonics readers. They are phonetically based and my kids really liked the stories.
• Spelling: This year Evan started Phonetic Zoo, a program put out by Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). It was a little expensive, but well worth it. It comes with flash cards of all the spelling rules with the words they will work on, an instructional video, CD's for the kids to listen to for their lesson practice, and reward cards. Basically, the child listens on CD and spells out the word and writes the word correctly everyday until he can get it right two times in a row for mastery. Evan really liked working with a CD player, and he is learning to spell! The auditory approach works well for him. It is recommended for 3rd grade and up.
• Handwriting: We have been using Italic handwriting with a lot of success. It has even improved my handwriting!
• Grammar: We really like First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise. It covers two years worth of material. My kids really liked it because they got to do fun chants to learn things, and memorize poems. I liked it because it is scripted and required almost no prepwork. It has beginning writing assignments that start with copywork, move to dictation, and end with the student writing his own paragraph.
• Poetry: This spring I ordered Developing Linguistic Patterns Through Poetry Memorization from IEW for next fall. We started listening to it and my kids have already memorized 4 poems and are working on their 5th. They love it! The program is laid out so it's easy to understand, and we are enjoying the poetry selections.

Latin: Last year Evan started Prima Latina by Leigh Lowe. He really enjoyed learning the prayers in Latin. I thought it was fairly easy to teach. The CD really helps with pronunciation.

Science: We are following The Well Trained Mind's suggestion of doing Biology the first year, Earth Science and Astronomy the second, Chemistry the third, and Physics the forth. This year I had Evan keep a science notebook of the experiments we did. I purchased a black and white composition book and had him write definitions, observations, results and draw diagrams when appropriate. We have had a lot of fun with science. It is probably one of the easier things for me to teach since my major in college was a scientific one. (Nutritional Science) I loved organic chemistry! If anyone is interested in more specific science ideas just let me know, and I'll post more.

History: We have been using Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World. It has been a lot of fun for me and the kids. It is probably their favorite subject. I really like the activity book with reading lists, crafts, maps, coloring pages and games that all correspond to the lesson. We started with book 1, Ancients in first grade. Next year we will finish up the series with book 4, Modern History.

Art: Amy has enjoyed the Draw Write Now series. Step-by-step instructions are given for simple drawings that can be expanded on. There are handwriting exercises too, but we haven't used them.

My weakest area as a teacher is writing. It was my weakest area as a student also. I'd love to hear any suggestions, especially for boys.

Fun Boy Adventures

Today Sean and Evan headed out to Cub Scout Camp. Having grown up with 2 sisters, I am really enjoying being the mother of a boy. While looking through some photos of this past year, I came across some of the fun "boy" things Evan has done that I would have never dreamed of doing in my childhood.
















Sean and Evan built a catapult to fling water balloons and/or buckets of water. They also built birdhouses with Amy for Christmas presents.

I remember being teased in first grade by a boy because I called them "Lightsavers". I was pretty clueless. Having a boy who loves all thing Star Wars, I can now answer any trivia question you want to throw my way. Not really, but I think I have watched it with Evan and Amy about 20 times.

We had Legos when I was growing up, but it was the cute little animals with houses. By the way, if you dump Legos on a blanket, clean up is a breeze. Just grab the corners of the blanket and lift up into your storage bucket.

Have fun at camp guys! I love you both!

A Passionate Pursuit

On Monday, as I was stuck in LA traffic on my way to Evan's appointment, I sat behind a car who's licence plate holder said, "Lexus: The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection". It got me thinking. I'm certainly not pursuing perfection with my car. I drive a Toyota minivan with coffee stains and Cherrios on the floor. But what would people say about me. I want to be passionate about Jesus and living a life that glorifies Him, growing in likeness to Him and thus into "perfection". But sometimes, I'm afraid my actions are like that licence plate stating to the world that I passionatly pursue a perfect body image, or a perfect house, or perfect kids, or a perfect homeschool.

I just finished reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. He talks a lot about passion.

God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives. -John Piper (emphasis mine)

I think it took me two weeks of thinking about not making much of myself, but making much of Christ before I could even read anymore of his book. It seemed to make sence to me that I would feel better and more loved if people (and God) would make much of me not the other way around. Again Piper writes:

God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. Anyone else who exalts himself distracts us from what we need, namely, God. But if God exalts himself, he calls attention to the very thing we need most for our joy. If great paintings could talk, and they saw you walking through the gallery staring at the floor, they would cry out, "Look! Look at me. I am the reason you are here." And when you look and exult in the beauty of the paintings with those around you, your joy would be full. You would not complain that the paintings should have kept
quiet. They rescued you from wasting your visit. In the same way no child complains, "I am being used" when his father delights to make the child happy with his own presence.

I am still thinking about this and God is changing me and the way I think about people. I also just finished reading When People are Big and God is Small by Edward T. Welch. He says, "We need to need people less and love them more." Hopefully, by God's grace, I am learning to do that. Then, my "licence plate frame" will point more toward my heavenly Father, and less to my imperfect self. And I'm learning that actually, in doing so, there is joy.

Emily's Dedication

"Children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward."
Psalm 127:3

A little over a year ago God blessed us with the gift of Emily. While on bed rest during my pregnancy with her, I thought about this verse a lot. Even though bed rest for 6 months was a trial at times, it did help to remember that her life is a gift. She has truly been a blessing to our whole family.

This past weekend we had Emily dedicated at our church, to publicly acknowledge that she is a gift from God. We reaffirmed our faith in Jesus and expressed our desire to train Emily according to His Word, the Bible, and teach her about Him. Our church body pledged to support us in this, and pray for her as they are prompted by the Holy Spirit, or as a special need arises.

Grandma Ree and Papa were there to take these pictures. The day before, they watched the kids for us while Sean and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. It was just as hot at the day we got married! (105 in the shade) But, we had a fun time getting to see a movie, and a play all in one day.

Backyard Party!

Emily absolutely adores her big brother! It's no wonder, with the all the attention he showers on her!

We often need to remind him that she does need to breath every once in a while!

The Kids celebrate with Uncle Tim on the awarding of Tim's graduate degree! Rumor has it this life-long professional student has landed a REAL job! Way to go Tim!

(Photos and text by Sean)

Books We Are Reading

I love to read. My husband wishes he loved to read. My kids are learning to love to read. As part of our summer schedule, the kids and I are reading an hour each day during Emily's second nap time. OK, most of the time I fold laundry and wish I was reading. But if I get the chance, I read with them too. Here's what we're reading currently.

Sean is reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer, and we are reading Stop Dating the church by Joshua Harris together.

I like to have a couple books going at once. Right now I am reading When People are Big, and God is Small by Edward T. Welch, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, and Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney.

Evan is like his mother and has several books going at once. Some books he prefers to read in the daytime, some he looses for awhile, and some are developing interests he feels he must satisfy now! He is in the middle of The Boy knight by G.A. Henty, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Davy Crockett by George Sullivan, and various military airplane books.

Amy is working her way through the Henry and Mudge, and Billy and Blaze series.

Emily of course can't read, but she loves to look at her little board books. Her attention span has lengthened a bit too and she asks us (points and grunts) to read her more than one book at a time now. It's very cute to see Evan and Amy reading to her.

The kids and I are listening to Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain on tape. And I am reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens to them.

At night, when Sean is home, we read individually to them. I am reading through the American Girl stories to Amy. And Sean is reading Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz to Evan.

Whew! That's a lot of books! Obviously, we don't get through any of them fast, except maybe the Henry and Mudge books. But, reading is a big part of our day, and we like to meander through them, reading more of one book one day, and another the next.

While I put links to Amazon.com and other places that sell these books so you could see what they are like if you cared to, we didn't buy most of them. We are very blessed with a great library. Most of these books we've checked out, so we can't go too slow! The librarians have come to know us and we love them. Some of the books have also been gifts from family and friends. Thank you so much!

Many of these books have been recommendations from friends, family and homeschool catalogues. If you have a favorite book, let us know!

Christina

UCLA Research Study

Our son Evan was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome when he was 6 1/2. Recently we learned about a study being done at UCLA to compare the efficacy of two different behavioral interventions for tic disorders. Evan will go and meet with a psychiatrist every week for 10 weeks in either a Psychoeducation/Supportive therapy session, the traditional method of treatment, or a Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) session, the method being tested. He will be randomly assigned to a group by a computer.

When we talked with Evan about participating in the study, he was very excited. He also realized that even if the therapy doesn't help him, it will help researchers understand Tourette's Syndrome better, which will help others with the disorder.

Evan went last week for and initial assessment which lasted 5 1/2 hours! This week he'll have another assessment done, and then his first therapy. We are hoping that he will be able to learn some techniques that will help him control his tics, and that the education and support from psychiatrists specializing in this area will help our whole family. In case you were wondering, there is no medication involved in the study.

Please pray for Evan and Sean. It is a long drive to LA and back each week. They are looking forward to some good bonding time together. We are also thinking of taking the whole family along one or more weekends for trips to Disneyland or Sea World.

Waffles with Grandpa John

Last weekend, Sean's family came to see Uncle Tim graduate from Cal Poly. Grandpa John stayed with us, and as a treat we made waffles for breakfast. After trying many different recipes over the years, this has become our hands-down favorite. It is still good without the citrus zest, but super yummy with it. You can see the recipe at William-Sonoma by clicking here. In case you have extra (or want to make a double batch) they freeze well. We enjoyed them with whipped cream and blueberries!

Christina

Day by Day

I have had days when everyone woke up cheerful, we got all our school done for the day, Evan and Amy were kind and helpful, and Emily was a joy and delight. Yesterday was not one of those days. Maybe it was because we had "too much special" the weekend before, but everyone was having a hard time and everything seemed to go wrong. Actually, it started the night before when I threw up driving home from Karate. Those who know me know I easily get car sick, but this was the first time I lost it while driving! Thankfully we got home safe. Sean came home a few minutes later and graciously put everyone to bed, including me, and cleaned up the mess. He is still my knight in shining armor, even when the rescuing is not so glamorous.

Anyway, in the midst of the day as I was wondering why God had allowed just about everything to be a trial, He brought to remembrance this song.

Day by Day

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faiths sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
Ever to take, as from a fathers hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

That God had deemed the trials of that day best is still a mystery to me, but I can put my trust in the Lord who is "wise and kind beyond all measure". The day did get a little better. We had a good laugh at this funny video Sean showed us when he got home. It was nice to go to bed laughing, with the words of this hymn on my mind.

Marine World Africa USA

We started a tradition of letting our kids pick a special place to visit for their 7th birthday. This year Amy chose to visit Marine World Africa USA, a theme park that also has animal shows. When I was a little, this park only had animal shows. However, Six Flags amusement parks bought Marine World out and added the "big rides." Grandma Ree, Papa, Aunt Shauna and cousin CJ also joined us for the day. We had a great time! The babies had a a lot of fun even though Emily missed her nap. And Amy and Evan got to ride an elephant with their Papa!

Christina

Blogging!!!

Today marks our first foray into the wonderful world of BLOGGING! Through this site we hope to keep you [our family and friends] updated on the wonderfully entertaining happenings in our home. Whether it involves adventures in the homeschooling of our two older children, or the first steps of our little baby, we endeavor to keep you amused as to what God is doing with us. And since Sean has steered us into the path of this time-consuming project, you can rest assured he will be the author of this and many late night articles for our blog.

We begin by telling you, while reminding others, we are a family of five living on the beautiful Central Coast of California. We affectionately call this part of the state “God’s Country.” The air is clean here. Crime is low. And people smile at one another. The sun rarely hides behind the clouds and the rain only seems to come when it’s needed. Really. It’s a blessing to live here. We are thankful.

We provide a Classical Christian Homeschool Education for our children. Primarily because we feel lead to do so. While homeschooling has its challenges, we are frequently validated by our decision as we watch our children thrive. We are thankful for that, too.

Our children are precious! Our inquisitive Evan is 9 years old. While we try and convince him there are several years left of homeschooling, he has his eyes set on college. Evan is a reading machine and enjoys karate classes when not kung-fu-ing his Dad.

Amy (our almost 7-year old) is the social butterfly of the family. She loves to spend time with her closest friends and participates in gymnastics and swimming. The more energy we can burn out of her, the more likely she will be to sleep at night!

Our little lady is our sweet 1-year old, Emily. She has a contagious smile and an enormous craving for grilled-cheese sandwiches! We are so fortunate to have such an easy-going beautiful baby. Again, there is a lot to be thankful for.

While I can’t say we’ll be the most diligent of bloggers, we welcome frequent visitors and comments.

Until next time, Cheers!
Sean and Family